


Starlight Burning Blue

by flickerjax (Stone_Princess)



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon, Romanticism, Sexy planet hoarding space dragon, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 21:45:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3585174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stone_Princess/pseuds/flickerjax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kalique will do anything to see her brother smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight Burning Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [velvetglove](http://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetglove/pseuds/velvetglove) for fixing me up a million times over the years, for taking up up my fic insanities in the middle of the night, and polishing them for me. Without her none of this would ever happen. And [canterville](http://archiveofourown.org/users/canterville/pseuds/canterville) for reining in my excessive adverbiage and paring my endlessly long sentences.
> 
> This fic was inspired by [this picture](https://instagram.com/p/0Wi2K0srSA/) and took and much mushier turn than I expected. What can I say, Balem is as ripe for woobifying as he is for cruelties and obscenities.

* * *

Balem’s smile was a hard won prize. She didn’t know the catalyst, but in the last ten millennia he had become more prone to temper tantrums than easy grins. The darkness growing inside him cast a shadow over the few starry sparks of his happiness that seemed to only surface when they were alone. A bittersweet gift Kalique was thrilled to receive, though her heart filled with sorrow over how little joy Balem found in life that his smile had become the rarest thing in the universe.

Seraphi insisted that in those brief years when he was a small child, infant Balem never cried, that he smiled at her from the first time she held him. Balem was in his sixteenth millennium when Kalique was born so she never saw his childish smile in person. The old holograms and flash stills from Seraphi’s memory showed a sweet boy with a trusting smile. Somewhere inside, Balem kept those memories, that capacity for joyfulness. Desperate to see it for herself, Kalique searched for some pleasure great enough to bring it back.

Kalique’s first attempt, an utter failure, was an invitation to Seraphi to join them in Balem’s new home on Elnaz. Only a stopover on a tour of Seraphi’s holdings, Balem seemed to turn even further inward when she arrived with the tiny Titus in tow, only ten years old and already so pampered and spoiled by Seraphi that he demanded all her attention. Seraphi had once had the power to coerce a smile from him, but now she was too preoccupied with Titus to even notice Balem’s withdrawal.

In her own infancy, that first hundred years, Balem had doted on Kalique. Always bringing her a present when he traveled, carrying her around with him as he visited the Abrasax holdings, just as Seraphi did with Titus now. Eleven thousand years later, give or take a few hundred, Kalique fondly remembered how sweet and generous she thought Balem then. How happy his face looked whenever she came into the room. Pale green eyes were the gems of his face, they mirrored the same fondness she felt for him. But Kalique had always loved his mouth the most, wide and full, always projecting the truth of his feelings. These many years it turned down in disdain, settled as if designed for cruelty. Kalique still saw the beauty in it, the barely remembered upward curve that changed him entirely. Framed perfectly by the elegant arc of his cheek bones, his long forgotten smile, pink lips and white teeth, was a jubilant sight to behold. Any lucky receiver of it couldn’t help but smile in return.

As a child, she’d had Seraphi’s full attention, and still Kalique had loved Balem more. Over the years she understood that Balem had magnetism; more than his regal bearing or his beauty, his charisma drew people in, as if they, too, thought to try to get a smile out of him, or at least a kind word. Men and women threw themselves at him, smashing against his hard exterior like waves in a storm. The kind words were for those few he trusted. Kalique was proud to be one of those few good enough for her princely brother.

In adolescence he had been Kalique’s first crush. They were Entitled, no one ever bothered to tell her that was wrong. It wasn’t until years later—four hundred, a thousand?—that she read stories proclaiming the horror of incestuous relationships. But did it even matter? None of the rules applied to the Entitled. There had been so many lovers but none she shared the emotional connection she had with her older brother. Even now she would do anything to make him happy.

She hatched a new plan to find his smile again.

#

They stood in the formal receiving room of Balem’s new alcázar, a palace by any standard in the Universe. One high wall was composed of vast windows overlooking broad gardens. In the distance, they could see the shadow of Seraphi’s cruiser, a dark spot over the lavender sunset as it departed for Earth and systems beyond.

“Seraphi has forgotten us both. She has a new toy to play with,” Balem said.

“He’s so small, Balem. In time he will grow and you will see, we will all be a family together. Did she forget you when I came along?”

Balem turned. The soft sentiment in his eyes wasn’t the joy she wanted but Kalique was glad to see it. He reached and pushed her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear, fingers gracing her delicate skin. A gesture he hadn’t made in nine thousand years. Kalique shivered at his touch, absorbing some of his intensity.

“When you came she gave you to me. Too busy for us both or perhaps she could see, even then, that you preferred me.”

Kalique felt her breath sucked away for a moment. He knew. He’d always known. Impulsively she acted, her plan only half-formed, but she couldn’t change her mind if she launched it now.

“Come to the bath with me tonight, brother, after we dine.” She reached and touched his hair, hoping to confer the same intimate sensation she’d felt at his caress. “This aging doesn’t suit you anymore.”

His hair was nearly pure white, his freckled skin creased at his eyes, the constant dissatisfaction on his lush mouth showed in the fan of lines around it.

Balem’s face gave no answer, no hint of insult or pleasure.

Hoping her nervousness was properly concealed, a hard test under Balem’s watchful eyes, Kalique pushed on. “I, too, have let myself age so much farther than usual. It’s Seraphi’s fashion, always her way. Living each round as if it was an individual life. We’ve lived long enough to know better now; why should we follow her example? Let us always be young. Will you join me, Balem?”

He looked back out over the pink and yellow gardens of Elnaz. For moment he did not speak, and Kalique wondered if she would have to think of something else. But then he nodded slowly.

“Yes, let us start again.”

Kalique felt the same awe and affection she had as a child. Encouraged, she stepped behind him, winding her arms about his waist and leaning her cheek on the flat bone of his shoulder blade. He stiffened briefly before his breath deliberately slowed and his weight shifted, keeping her against him, his arms over hers, their fingers twined together. Though she could not see his face, she imagined his smile, tried to remember when she’d last seen it. It had been an eon since they last embraced; still, he let her touch him in ways he’d allow no one else to.

“I’ll see you at dinner, then?” She asked, stepping away, not wanting to sabotage the moment.

“Yes,” Balem answered, not turning to look at her. “And after as well.”

Kalique bowed slightly as she exited. Though he still did not turn around she knew he watched her in the faint reflection of the glass between him and the gardens.

#

Kalique dismissed the attendants in the dining hall. From the corner of her eye she saw Balem nod in agreement. He followed a half step behind as she took deliberate, measured steps down his endless halls to the regeneration chamber. Her face was calm, her breathing even, but her heart revealed her excitement. She worried Balem could hear it on their silent journey.

In the antechamber Balem undressed himself carefully, purposefully, laying aside cloak and shirt, pants and jewelry, until nothing was left but aging skin over muscle turning soft. Even when he let himself age she saw his true face underneath. Her memories of him blended and blurred the reality of him. His youthful beauty was still apparent in his powerful grace, in his arresting gaze as he watched her disrobe too.

Both naked, they stood on the edge of a pool so wide it lapped the marble floor like a small lake, deepening at the middle. Impetuously Kalique reached for Balem’s hand as they stepped in. Though he did not look at her, he squeezed her hand in response. Their hands remained clasped as they waded deep, submerging in the pool by inches with each step.

Though a private delight, regeneration was often done with other people present in the room. Kalique had never experienced the renewal while touching another person, had never even heard of it tried, though certainly someone must have. Rejuvenation was its own special ecstasy, incomparable to orgasm or the euphoric substances found on any number of worlds. Awareness of anything but one’s own body slipped away, each cell suddenly transmitting at once, overwhelming the senses. All ten thousand million cells swelled at once, flushing with life. An intensity so exquisite it bordered on pain. This time was different. The sense of isolation gone, the perception of life returning doubled. Kalique could feel her hand clasped in Balem’s, their pulses making one new beat, a song of life that throbbed above the clamorous vibrancy of cells regenerating.

Exiting the pool was a slow procession, RegenX-E streaming from their newly made bodies. At the artificial, marble-tiled shore Balem released his grip on her, bringing his hand up to eye level and letting out soft laugh Kalique would have mistaken for displeasure from anyone else. He held out his hand, displaying it to Kalique. There was the distinct shape of her hand on his, the skin of it worn and aged, crepe thin next to the plump young skin surrounding it. Her own hand held the same pattern where the nectar had not touched it.

Balem took her wrist, pulled her down to kneel beside him, and thrust both their hands back into the pool for a dozen heartbeats. When he released her and they raised their hands all signs of age were gone.

“All new again,” Balem said, his voice rich and clear.

No attendants waited to dry them, but Balem must have often dismissed his staff because the room was equipped with a full-sized, stand-alone grooming arch. Kalique touched her implant, having it send her specifications to the arch before she stepped through. She emerged on the other side dry, her hair coiffed and no cosmetics but a slight pinking of her lips and cheeks, probably unnecessary after a regeneration bath, but alluring with her coloring. She turned to see Balem touching his own implant and he stepped through only dry. Hair looking slightly damp and combed back, though it immediately began to fall over his eyes with no styling done to it.

“Shall we?” He offered his arm as if they were attending a formal function.

Kalique took it and followed him to his suite. Still naked, they passed no living beings on their walk down the wide halls of Balem’s alcázar.

#

Balem’s private chambers were a surprise. Perhaps austere compared to any room in Kalique’s homes, but positively sumptuous by Balem’s usual standards. All the fabrics appeared silken or very soft. Colors ranged only from deep blue to darkest black, accented with silver. The ceiling was a sentimental recreation of the summer night sky on Orus. An unexpected reminder of their home world.

On the far wall a deep window bubbled out and contained a padded seat surrounded by small plants. Not the pink and yellow of Elnaz, like the gardens outside the window, but only plants deep blue, heavy purple, or sometimes a little green. Kalique wondered again what Balem had been like as a child, what he had loved then. She had long given up her interest in genomes and splicing in favor of philosophy and poetry from a hundred advanced worlds. Instead of science she learned the legacies of a thousand politicians. Still, she was always excited to hear about advancements in the genetic arts. Had Balem loved plants as a child? Or was this some affectation of the designers who had done such a beautiful job making these rooms feel as if one was living inside the night sky but for this tiny pocket, this reminder of life, of solid ground.

The bed was massive, easily large enough to comfortably hold five people. Balem had always been discreet in his liaisons, if he had them at all. She was never able to guess who he bedded, whether they were close enough Kalique should feel jealous, or always strangers whose names he never knew. The relationships that lasted were more business arrangements than romance. But she was here now, neither business nor stranger.

Balem stood at the foot of the huge midnight blue bed, its platform a foot higher than the floor. He towered over Kalique. He was unnaturally still, one hand raised slightly from his side, as if he was going to reach out to her and stopped. His eyes tracked her as she moved close and stopped at the bottom step gazing up at him.

There were no appropriate words, so Kalique didn’t speak, though she met Balem’s stare before looking him over. His hair was once again dark, though not brown like hers. Even in the shadows of this room she could see where it hinted at red. His entire body was freckled, a genetic defect some thought, though Seraphi had it intentionally designed into him. He could have corrected it easily with gene therapy but chose not to. Perhaps to honor Seraphi, but more likely because it made him different, made him stand out, in a society of exceptionally perfect people. Kalique imagined him a universe unto himself, covered in stars, lit on the heaven of his pale skin.

Even unmoving, his grace was obvious; the way he held himself, the shape and tone of his muscles. Kalique took in his flat stomach and sleek thighs, the curve of his buttocks, the arch of his back. She circled him as she approached, coming up the platform at an angle so she could see all of him.

Of course she loved him. Perhaps she loved him in the wrong ways, because she had always wanted him like this, even before she was old enough to understand what she felt. But she’d only ever imagined it, never conceived that he would allow this touch. His skin was warm under her hand and she pressed her body against his, relieved when his arms came around her.

“Have you ever done that before?” He asked, his lips so close they brushed her ear, his beautiful tenor resonating over the delicate skin there. “Entered the pool with another person?”

“No, you are the first.”

“I did not expect it would be so…intimate.”

Kalique was ready to agree, to ask if he had experienced it the way she did, but his mouth captured hers and took her words away as he tumbled them down on to the bed in a tangle of limbs.

As she went down with him, Kalique could see starlight burning blue outside the windows, illuminating the new secrets they made.

#

Kalique was alone when she awoke. She stretched and gloried in how wonderful her young body felt. Gasping in remembered pleasure as she realized the small pains and burns she felt were left from Balem’s teeth, bruises where he’d grabbed her too hard in his ardor. Wrapping herself in a silken blue coverlet from the bed, she wandered the suite, looking for any sign of Balem. The room was modest by comparison to the rest of the house but felt hollow and empty without its master present.

Afraid he regretted their night together she knew calling him to ask where he was would be an imposition. Instead she called her most trusted attendant on her implant and asked that her day clothes be brought to the antechamber of the nectar pool. She followed the path back, retracing the way Balem had led her the night before.

“You look lovely, my lady. Youth suits you, as always.” Her attendant, Malina, smiled. A flighty little bird girl whose company Kalique usually enjoyed.

Kalique did not smile in return; she felt its absence, as if Balem had taken it with him when he disappeared in the night. She allowed herself to be dressed, remaining silent, her mind filled with the choices she’d made, the lines they had crossed. She knew it wouldn’t affect her public relationship with Balem, but might haunt her nights for millennia if he pulled further away from her.

Breakfast was laid on the broad veranda overlooking the glorious pink and yellow gardens, the most beautiful in a hundred star systems. But distracted as she was, Kalique barely noticed them as she let her attendant fill her plate. She watched the sunrise instead, ignoring all else until a shadow fell over the table.

“It was terrible trouble to find someone in the kitchen to make _golnafets_ the way you like, and I had to send someone off world for _jelache_ berries.” Balem’s voice was soft, almost a whisper, words just for her.

Seeing for the first time the elaborate cakes on her plate, the sticky mounds of tart fruit she had loved as a child, Kalique looked up at Balem in wonder. His eyes sparkled with gaiety, like she hadn’t seen since her own true childhood. She smiled; she couldn’t help it, it burst from her in an instant. The warmth between them now was bright as the sun as it first crested over the mountains back on Orus.

Balem smiled back, a flash of neat white teeth, glossy as pearls. The corners of his eyes folding then crinkling sharply despite his fresh young face. His full lips were pink and soft looking, stretched tight. But his eyes were all she needed: shining, deep pools, radiating every bit as much joy as the glorious split of his smile. It was worth any price to witness, to have for her alone. Kalique knew she would do it a thousand times over; what she had paid to earn it was nothing compared to this. 

Kalique straightened, rolling her shoulders back and taking Balem’s regal bearing for her own. At this table she was his queen, the only person special enough to have compelled his smile in a hundred and fifty lifetimes. She had won the most precious prize.


End file.
